1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of storing image data in a file format and more particularly, to a file format and method for storing projected or reflected image data.
2. Description of Background Art
There are a variety of data analysis problems for which different types of data are collected and later analyzed. In the medical field, for example, two or more types of image data may be collected, such as computerized tomography (CT) scan data, ultrasound image data, x-ray image data, infrared image data, and photographic data. Each image technique may reveal different features or aspects of a medical condition. Consequently, it is desirable to have the capability to combine or compare aspects of the different data sets at particular locations in the object, to form fused three-dimensional images from the combined data sets, and to manipulate the data sets in a variety of different ways.
Several factors may limit the ability to effectively combine different types of data into overlapping or fused images. These include registration errors and image rendering errors. Registration errors may occur because the data is collected on different types of imaging machines from different positions. Registration errors, may, for example, result in an offset in two rendered three-dimensional images, creating a registration error in the fused image. Rendering errors may occur because the collected two-dimensional images lack sufficient information to form accurate three-dimensional images from the data set of collected two-dimensional images.
Registration and rendering errors are a particular problem for collected projected and reflected image data. Projected image data corresponds to two-dimensional images collected as a consequence of passing an imaging ray (e.g., x-rays) through an object and onto a sensor plate. Reflected data corresponds to two-dimensional images collected from image rays (e.g., light rays) reflecting from an object and collected on a sensor plate. Image rendering of two-dimensional projected or reflected data sets is a problem because each individual two-dimensional image lacks sufficient depth information to uniquely establish the location of the object being imaged. Conventional image rendering techniques use several images to calculate a depth map. However, this imposes geometric constraints on the images used to calculate depth data. Additionally, the data format of the rendered data may be different than the other types of data, complicating the problem of registering and fusing the image data with other types of data, such as CT data.
Therefore, there is a need for a new technique of collecting and storing projected or reflected data into a format that is compatible with different coordinate transformations and fusing the projected or reflected data with different types of data.
The present invention is a system, method, and computer-readable medium for saving multidimensional data that includes two-dimensional imaging ray data, such as projected or reflected data.
The system includes a data acquisition module (612) for acquiring a first data set of imaging ray images of the object; a formatting module (602) in communication with the data acquisition module (612) and configured to format the data set into an n-dimensional format (500) comprising: a reference point value field, a transformation field, a focal point value field, a type of the coordinate system, and at least one dimension for storing image data; and a storage module (632) in communication with the formatting module (602) and configured to store the formatted data. In a preferred embodiment, two dimensions of the format are used for storing two dimensional image data.
The method includes the steps of acquiring a first data set comprised of a plurality of two dimensional imaging ray images of the object; formatting each of the two-dimensional imaging ray images of the first data set into an n-dimensional format (500) having a file header, a reference point header, coordinates of the focal point field, and at least one dimension for storing image data; and storing the resulting formatted data.
The computer-readable medium includes a computer program comprising: a data acquisition module (612) for acquiring a first data set of imaging ray images; a formatting module (602) in communication with the data acquisition module (612) and configured to format the first data set into a file structure (500), the file structure comprising: a file header, a header of the reference point and a focal point field; and a storage module in communication with the formatting module and configured to store the formatted data sets in n-dimensional format.